RONIN wrote: Let me first say that this is in no way an insult to O Sensei as i have the most respect for him and his aiki techniques,he created this great art.Now on to my reason for this thread.I have read and heard many times in articles and from other Aikido Sensei that the throws O sensei did when it seemed he didnt have to touch his ukes at all were,were not done by some divine power but by the ukes themselves.It has been said that the atemis hurt the ukes so they learned to take ukemi before the blow was struck in essence throwing themselves.Again this is in no way a slander on O Sensei just food for thought.Any opinions on this subject please respond.

I can't remember whether I posted this on the Aikiweb forum, I know I did during an atemi discussion on the e-budo forum so forgive me if you already saw this:http://aikieast.com/atemi.htm
It's an article i wrote a while back about atemi. John Stevens Sensei gave me permission to use some of his O-sensei pictures in the originla article but they're not up on the net. But it might be of interest.